Climate Politics
EU Spat Over Nuclear Energy Escalates as Key Vote Is Delayed
- Swedish presidency strikes vote on RED from meeting agenda
- Move echoes dispute over car-emission rules earlier this year
The Cruas Nuclear Power Plant in Cruas, France.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A key element of the European Union’s Green Deal package has been delayed after France, the bloc’s biggest supporter of nuclear power, said it won’t back a law to scale up renewable energy.
Member-state officials had been due to endorse the Renewable Energy Directive at a meeting Wednesday, paving the way for a formal vote in the coming weeks. Yet French concerns over the role of nuclear in climate goals for industry, plus opposition from some central and east European countries worried about green-transition costs, saw the law struck from the agenda.